


Blood Stained

by RoSH (RoSH95)



Category: One Piece
Genre: Blood, Cannon Death, Dysfunctional Threesome + Luffy, F/M, M/M, Multi, probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-05-21 22:18:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6060070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoSH95/pseuds/RoSH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cartel D. Lara is absolutely sure of three things.</p><p>One; genders are stupid and she doesn’t understand why people insist on assigning them to others when all it does is create discrimination and stereotypes.</p><p>Two; her nakama—who are all girls for your information—are the baddest bitches in all of Grand Line. Probably the world.</p><p>And three; Trafalgar Law is hot as hell when he is eloquently and logically ranting about how society is fucking stupid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sabaody Archipeligo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follows the Sabaody Archipelago Arc

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is about half of what I have planned for this chapter. If I get a good response from this story, I will post the rest so please kudos and comment if you like it! And if I don't get a good response, I will probably post the rest anyways because FUCK ALL YA HATERS!! Enjoy XD

Cartel D. Lara is absolutely sure of three things.

One; genders are stupid and she doesn’t understand why people insist on assigning them to others when all it does is create discrimination and stereotypes.

Two; her nakama—who are all girls for your information—are the baddest bitches in all of Grand Line. Probably the world.

And three; Trafalgar Law is hot as hell when he is eloquently and logically ranting about how society is fucking stupid.

She’s pretty sure she’s in love.

She’s also aware of the ridiculous grin she’s wearing, but she’s choosing not to think about that right now, because Law is sitting a couple seats away from her at the bar, venting to that fluffy white polar bear of a first mate. And _goddamn_ if Lara doesn’t want to cuddle the fuck out of that bear. Of course, she also wants to cuddle the fuck out of the sexy surgeon that is Law, but she’s pretty sure she’d lose a couple limbs if she tried that.

~

She’s been staring at him with this huge grin on her face for the last fifteen minutes, and Law would never admit it, but it’s freaking him out. She looks a little familiar, but he’s pretty sure he would have remembered meeting a girl with white hair. Her hair is so long that it pools on the ground beneath her barstool. And that’s saying something, considering that the petite feet at the ends of her slender legs just barely brush the floor.

She’s wearing a pair of dark red shorts that barely covers her butt and a red button up shirt that’s left open, showing off the grotesque scar on her chest that has left her without breasts. Her eyes are white, and he would think she was blind if not for the black pupils and the fact that those eyes are staring right at him.

When he finally can’t ignore her anymore, Law turns to glare at her and snaps, “What the fuck are you looking at?”

If anything, the stupid grin on her face just gets bigger.

“Mmm, just a sexy surgeon and a fluffy polar bear,” she says breezily, and Law is a little surprised at how low her voice is.

Given her appearance, he’d had her pegged at about fourteen or fifteen years old, and had been expecting a higher voice showing the signs of just starting puberty. However, the deeper voice makes him think she’s probably more around the age of eighteen or nineteen, having had time to settle into the deeper voice puberty had given her. Still, the voice is deep, even for a girl. Were she a singer, Law has no doubt that she would be a base.

Law finally gets past the shock of hearing her deep voice and registers what she said. He raises an eyebrow. The girl grins.

“Two Tequila Mockingbirds,” she calls out to the bartender, before slipping off her stool to saunter over to where Law is sitting with Bepo.

Law eyes the long white hair dragging on the floor behind her.

“Isn’t that kind of cumbersome?” he asks, motioning to the vast amount of hair.

She looks at it, looks back at Law, blinks and shrugs.

“Maa, I’m not too worried about it,” she says. “Besides, it just means no one’s ever gotten the best of me in a fight before.”

Law raises his eyebrows at that. With her dainty appearance, he hadn’t thought she was a fighter, but now that he looks at her more closely, he can see the hard cords of wiry muscle compact into her tiny frame.

“Pirate, I take it?” he asks, as the bartender comes back with her drinks and she slides one over to him before tossing back her own and chugging the whole thing in one go.

“Yup,” she says once she’s swallowed, her eyes glittering in excitement. “Cartel D. Lara of the Skaia Pirates.”

Law blinks. Now he knows why she looked so familiar.

“But Blood-Stained Lara is supposed to have red hair,” Bepo cuts in, looking confused. Then he blinks, realizing what he just said and shrinks down in his chair. “Sorry...”

Lara laughs good naturedly and reaches across Law to scratch his first mate under the chin, causing the bear’s eyes to flutter closed as he leans into the nimble fingers.

“My hair’s only red when I haven’t washed all the blood and guts out of it.”

“What.”

~

As it turns out, when he isn’t being shocked into decency by white-haired girls without boobs, Trafalgar Law is a grumpy asshole.

And Lara _loves_ it.

After all, even though he _can_ be polite, Ace is actually a HUGE asshole who hates literally everyone except Whitebeard, his nakama, and his little brother, Monkey D. Luffy. Aside from Lara and a few others who are exempt from that rule, Ace would burn the world and _laugh_.

Maybe that’s why, when Law decides he’s had enough to drink and wants to go stretch his ridiculously long legs, Lara decides to join him.

Standing next to him, she barely comes up to the middle of his chest. But Lara is used to that. Most people tower over her after all. Her navigator Arya is the only one who comes even close to the same height as her.

“ _Why_ are you following me??” Law snaps, whipping around to glare at Lara in a way that reminds her entirely too much of Ace.

“Why not~?” Lara sings, doing a little twirl to watch her long white hair float around her.

“Because you’re fucking _annoying_ , that’s why!” he growls and Lara almost giggles.

“You’re cute,” she says instead.

Law smacks himself in the face with his hand, letting out a long, drawn out groan—Lara almost can’t contain a purr at the sound of that _ridiculously_ sexy noise—as he drags his palm down his face.

“I’m going to kill you,” Law threatens, but Lara really can’t see how she’s supposed to feel threatened by that.

She shrugs.

“Well, you can _try_ ,” she replies with a sly grin.

Law groans again and they walk on in silence.

“So what the hell were you even doing in that shitty bar anyways?” Law mutters sullenly, finally breaking the silence.

Lara stretches her arms over her head and grins at the bubbles floating up into the air. It’s one of her favorite things about Sabaody Archipelago.

“Mmm I was waiting for my friend, Portugas D. Ace.”

“Of the Whitebeard Pirates?”

“That’s the one~”

“How the fuck did you make friends with that asshole?”

“Ace isn’t an asshole!” Law raises an eyebrow and Lara concedes, “Okay... so he’s an asshole. But he’s also really nice when he wants to be!”

Law snorts and rolls his eyes.

“I don’t really remember how me and Ace met,” Lara continues, “but it probably had to do with drinking and strippers, considering that’s how we always seem to meet up.”

“ _Drinking_ and _strippers_...” Law repeats, like he isn’t quite sure what he just heard.

“Drinking and strippers,” Lara confirms, with an entirely serious expression and firm nod. “ _Aaanyways_ , me and Ace meet up here on Sabaody about once every six months and go terrorize the seas together for a bit.”

Law grunts, but gives no other sign that he’s listening. Lara doesn’t mind. If the guy feels like being an antisocial douchebag, than who is she to stop him?

Her thoughts turn towards Ace. Lara arrived for their rendezvous about a day ago, and she and Ace had always agreed to wait on Sabaody for three days, just in case the other was running late. If Ace doesn’t show up by tomorrow, it probably means something bad had happened on his hunt for Blackbeard. _Or_ it just means he’s busy hunting the nakama-killing-traitorous-douchebag and Lara is overthinking things. Either way, Lara is only staying here one more day, so she might as well make the best of it.

~

Law squints up at the building in front of him. It’s just an auction house, but Law’s just got a really weird feeling that there’s something important he’s supposed to be doing here.

“Ever get that feeling when you _know_ something’s up and shit’s about to go down, but you don’t know when or why or how?” Lara says from where she’s standing, somewhere behind and to the right of him.

“Yeah...” Law murmurs. “Kinda getting that feeling now.”

“Me too,” Lara says in a soft voice, and Law feels her fingers twist into the sleeve of his hoodie.

They stand in silence for a moment, staring at the auction house and feeling that disturbing notion that they’re supposed to be doing something important right now.

Then Lara does a little full body shake—almost like a dog but at the same time not at all—and grins.

“Let’s check it out!” she chirps happily and Law marvels at her ability to go from somber to hyper in less than a second.

Law doesn’t protest as Lara pulls him towards the auction house, laughing the whole way, one hand wrapped around his wrist and the other holding Bepo’s fuzzy paw. He doesn’t know how it happened, but somehow Lara has managed to make Bepo fall in love with her, and he’s been trailing after her like a lovesick puppy ever since, happily nuzzling into any scritches she decides to give him. Law thinks whatever she’s done must be affecting him too, because he’s decidedly less annoyed with her than he was an hour ago.

When they enter the auction house, it immediately becomes clear that this isn’t a normal auction. Not that Law really expected it to be. Not when they were in one of the more lawless areas of Sabaody.

Law glances over to gauge Lara’s reaction to the human auction that’s going on, but her face is surprisingly calm and blank, a small smile still playing on the corners of her lips. He can’t tell what she’s thinking.

Lara tugs him over to an empty bench near the back and settles down on it, tugging Law down to sit next to her. Law sighs and sits down, Bepo settling in on his other side.

Lara hasn’t said a word since they entered the building, and Law finds it a little weird considering he couldn’t get her to shut up the entire time they were walking around the island. And now she’s staring silently ahead—watching the bidding for a man on the stage wearing shackles and a collar—with that blank look on her face that Law can’t get a read on. The small smile is gone now, and her face is completely smoothed out in expressionless neutrality. Law thinks back to the different expressions Lara had shown before and compares it to the Lara he’s seeing now.

Something is _definitely_ not right with this picture.

“Are you... alright?” Law whispers to her.

Lara startles and blinks at him, like she had completely forgotten he was there.

“Fine,” she responds despondently, her expression never changing.

Law doesn’t believe her, but he doesn’t really care either. Lara isn’t part of his crew, she isn’t a friend, she’s not even really an acquaintance. She’s just some girl that he met in a bar who took a liking to him and decided to follow him around. He has absolutely _no_ obligations to care about her emotional well-being.

~

Lara is pissed. Beyond pissed. She knows she doesn’t look it, but she _feels_ like she’s about to rip these goddamned Tenryubito’s stupid little heads off. She’s trying to be calm though. Going around ripping Tenryubito’s heads off is not going to bring anything good.

She’s probably freaking Law out though. He keeps glancing sideways at her with concern in his eyes and a question on his lips, but he never asks if she’s alright. Lara thinks its sweet that he cares, but she won’t ever say it aloud.

It’s been a long time since Lara had to see anyone chained. Not since she left her home on Red Wave Island. Lara _hates_ to see someone chained. It goes against everything she stands for. People shouldn’t be chained and caged like animals. Hell, even _animals_ shouldn’t be chained and caged. Cages are evil. To be chained means to have your freedom taken away. To be caged means to be trapped; locked away and forgotten. Lara refrains from shuddering at the thought of losing her freedom.

She closes her eyes and can’t stop herself from imagining the cage they used to put her in—before she met her sworn sister, Sani. It was a seastone cage—because Lara ate her devil fruit when she was barely a toddler—dirty and cramped; barely big enough for a growing child. She hated that damn cage; hates it still. They locked her in it to protect the others from her; to protect her from herself. Now, though, Lara is in control of her super human powers. She knows how to protect others from herself. She’s not in the cage anymore.

Lara opens her eyes just in time to witness everything go to hell.

~

The auctioneer is introducing a large pirate, but just as he’s about to start the bidding, the pirate bites his tongue out and collapses, causing the auction house to go into an uproar even as the curtains close on the scene. The curtains open again shortly after, the auctioneer giving some bullshit excuse as to why the pirate collapsed, and that’s when they bring her out. The mermaid.

“ _FIVE HUNDRED MILLION BERI!!!_ ” Calls out a portly man wearing a bubble over his head ( _Tenryubito_ , Lara thinks). “I’ll pay five hundred million!”

The whole auction house is stunned into silence. Lara clenches her hands into fists, feels the skin break beneath her nails. She closes her eyes and turns away from the scene, unwilling to watch and do nothing anymore.

That’s when it happens. Monkey D. Luffy—the precious little brother of Portgas D. Ace and the one thing Ace is capable of loving on a deeper emotional level than nakama—comes crashing through the ceiling.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” Luffy shouts at his companions who also crashed through the ceiling with him. “CAN’T YOU LAND ANY BETTER?!!”

Lara blinks her eyes open and stares at the boy before her. He’s young with shaggy black hair hidden beneath a straw hat. A red vest hangs open on his torso, exposing a chiseled chest and black shorts cover his legs. There’s a badly healed scar beneath his left eye that, strangely, only adds to his boyish looks.

_He’s cute_ , Lara thinks. _I can see why Ace likes him_.

“Ah! CAMIE!!!” Luffy shouts when he spots the mermaid. “CAMIE WE WERE LOOKING FOR YOU!! THANK GOODNESS!!”

“WAIT!!!” One of Luffy’s companions shouts, grabbing at the boy. It does little to slow him down. “ _WAIT_ STRAWHAT!!! WHAT’RE YOU DOING??!!”

A small argument ensues between Luffy and the other man, and his companion grabs at Luffy again, this time using an extra set of arms.

_Oh shit_ , Lara thinks. _Fishman. This is gonna get ugly_.

And she’s right. No sooner than it is revealed there is a fishman in the building than all hell breaks loose.

“It’s a fishman! How disgusting!” Someone cries.

“Why is a fishman on land?!” Another shouts.

“Disgusting! Look at the color of his skin!! Look at his arms!!!”

“I’m scared! I’m so scared! Don’t come any closer!”

“Go back to the sea, you monster!!”

Lara snarls.

“Shut up…” she mutters under her breath. “Shut up, you fucking bastards!”

One of her crew members is a fishman, and Lara couldn’t ask for a better or more loyal friend. She _hates_ to see fishmen discriminated against. When she thinks of Chessy chained and being ridden around by a fucking Tenryubito, it makes her blood boil and her skin crawl. It makes her want to spill blood.

_Bang!_

Just like that, the auction house is silenced again. The fishman falls, shot in the chest by the portly Tenryubito who bid on the mermaid.

“Mufufufu~” the Tenryubito chortled gleefully. “I hit him! I finished off that fishman~!”

Lara just stared. She could hardly comprehend the cruelty she was witnessing, and she had been witness to a lot of cruelty in her life.

“Father, look!” the Tenryubito shouted. “I caught this fishman! I caught him so he’s free, right? Take him away! I got a fishman slave for free!!”

He then proceeds to dance over the prone body of the fishman, all the while singing, “Free~! Free~! An octopus for free~!”

If someone doesn’t do something soon, Lara swears she’s gonna start killing people.

Luckily, Luffy seems to have had enough of the Tenryubito’s behavior as well. He certainly _looks_ pissed enough to rip heads off.

“Wa-wait… ha… Strawhat!” the injured fishman grabs onto the young pirate’s ankle, stopping him on his way to beat some Tenryubito ass. “You can’t… don’t get mad. It was my fault… You promised that… even if someone is shot right in front of your eyes… you wouldn’t go against the Tenryubito! I’m a pirate anyway!! I’ve done bad things… this is my punishment!”

Lara hates that there’s someone who thinks that way about themselves. Pirate or not, no one deserves to be treated like scum by the Tenryubito.

“I’m sorry,” the fishman continues. “I… I didn’t mean for this to happen! Nami! I wanted to make it up to Nami… even a little… I just wanted to help you guys. Everything I’ve ever done… it was all a mistake! I’m really useless… but, in the end, I just cause trouble. I’m so sorry!”

Lara can feel the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. To hear someone talk this way reminds her of her past. Of herself before Sani came and freed her from the cage. Of Arya before the wretched girl joined her crew. Of Chessy before they all beat their love and bonds of friendship into the fishgirl. Those are painful memories, and they make Lara angry.

“You damn fish!” the Tenryubito cries, pointing his gun at Luffy and the fishman. “I shot you, but you’re still talking… You piss me off!!!”

A dark look crosses Luffy’s face as the Tenryubito shoots at the fishman with terrible aim. Luffy shields his friend, but the bullet doesn’t hit them anyways. The strawhat wearing boy gets to his feet and strides forwards, even as his friends cry out in protest.

He pulls his fist back, shouting, “YOU PISS ME OFF TOO!!!”

And then Monkey D. Luffy shocks the entire auction house into silence for the third time that day by punching the Tenryubito in the face.

The man goes flying back several feet, crashing into the benches in the back, unconscious.

Everyone in the auction house stares at the dark haired boy with the straw hat who dared to punch a Tenryubito. Some look flabbergasted. Some look devastated. And some, like Lara and Law, have smirks on their faces and laughter in their eyes.

“Sorry, you guys…” Luffy says, speaking to his crew standing in the back of the auction house. “I hear if you hit one of these guys… a marine admiral’s gonna show up with battleships in tow.”

_Well… he’s not wrong,_ Lara thinks to herself.

A green haired swordsman—Lara recognizes him as Roronoa Zoro—re-sheaths the sword he had pulled out halfway and says, “Why’d you have to go and punch him? I wanted to slice him up myself.”

Lara bursts out laughing, loud and hard. She earns some odd looks and several glares, but most people ignore her in favor of the spectacle going on in front of them.

Luffy’s redheaded friend—Cat Burglar Nami—has rushed over to the fishman and begun to give him first aid.

“Nyu… you guys… what have you done?!” the fishman cries out in distress.

“Well, hey,” Nami says. “Not like it could be helped. He’s Luffy, after all!”

Suddenly, the Tenryubito in the audience seem to regain their bearings and one of them stands up, pointing a gun at Luffy and shouting, “WHY YOU! HOW DARE A LOWLY PEASANT SUCH AS YOURSELF LAY A FINGER UPON MY SON!!” and that seems to break the spell that the room was put under by Luffy’s actions.

“HE MADE THE TENRYUBITO MAD!!” someone screams.

“RUN FOR IT! GET OUTSIDE!!!”

The auditorium clears of all bystanders in record time, leaving only the Tenryubito and the pirates.

“Do you have any idea what will happen to you if you rise against us… against the descendants of the Creator of this world?!” shouts the Tenryubito.

Lara only knows one true descendant of the Creator of the world, and she is most definitely not in the room. To hear someone else claim that title makes her see red.

Suddenly, Lara is snapped out of her anger by Luffy’s blonde friend—Sanji—kicking the gun right out of the Tenryubito’s hand. He then proceeds to kick the crap out of the Tenryubito’s nearby guards, shouting, “MOVE IT!! We have to get Camie-chan free!”

“Roger that!” replies the big blue haired guy in a speedo—Lara thinks his name is Franky. “Leave it to me!”

“STOP THOSE PIRATES!” a guard shouts, before he’s cut down by Zoro’s sword.

“YOU FOOLS!” another guards yells, taking the other’s place. “Attempting to protect the life of a mere fish!!”

At that, Lara finally stands up and lets loose the wave of angry Haki she’s been holding back. The guards nearest to her drop dead with blood pouring from their eyes, nose, and mouth. Law gapes at Lara as she wades into the battle, guards and Tenryubito dropping like flies around her.

“I see you scum intend to defy us to the very last?!” shouts the Tenryubito who was defending the one Luffy punched.

“Camie’s not a ‘thing’ you can sell!!” Luffy shouts back.

“CALL A MARINE ADMIRAL AND HIS BATTLESHIPS!!” the Tenryubito screams. “LET US PUT THESE SCUM IN THEIR PLACE!!”

“GET DOWN!!” Zoro shouts and Lara instinctively drops to the floor, along with several others who heard the warning.

Zoro slashes his sword through the air and a gust of deadly wind whistles over their heads to cut open the fishbowl the mermaid, Camie, was trapped in.

“DAMNITALL!!” screams the auctioneer, pulling out a gun and standing beside Camie’s fishbowl. “Guard the mermaid with your lives! She sold for five hundred million! FIVE HUNDRED MILLION!!!”

“Insolent brats…” the Tenryubito says. “The women, I shall have stuffed, and the men, I will put hard to work as slaves, with no food!”

Lara thinks it’s a little presumptuous for him to be saying that as though he’s already won when she could end his life now with just a flick of her finger.

Its shortly after she has that thought that a dark skinned man with curly black hair comes crashing through the ceiling and lands right on top of the Tenryubito.

While Lara is doubled over laughing, Usopp gets up and apologizes to the Tenryubito, obviously not understanding that he is an enemy.

Lara glances around, noticing that Luffy’s other crewmates, Robin and Brooke, have also arrived. The tide is turning in the favor of the pirates—not that it was ever in the favor of the Tenryubito in the first place.

Sensing that she is no longer needed, Lara makes her way back to Law, who is still sitting on the bench where she left him. The only difference is that now Luffy is standing next to him too.

“…If it’s the Marine you’re worried about,” Law is saying calmly, “they’ve been here since the auction started. They’re surrounding the entire auction-house.”

“What?! SERIOUSLY?!” Luffy shouts, looking one step away from a major freakout.

“After all,” Law continues, looking completely unperturbed despite the situation, “Marine HQ does have a post right here on this archipelago. I don’t know who it is they’re after… but I doubt they expected anybody to start attacking the Tenryubito.”

He smirks at Luffy and Lara can almost see the lightbulb go off beside her head. Because Law’s smirk wasn’t an I’m-better-than-you smirk. That was a you’re-cute-and-I-like-you smirk. Lara has to refrain from squealing, because _that_ is the cutest couple she’s ever seen and, even if she likes Law herself, she’s got Ace.

Deciding that this is a good time to introduce herself to her partner’s little brother, Lara pounces on Bepo and crawls up his body to stand on his shoulders. She puts her hands on her hips and grins down at Luffy.

“Hey!” she chirps, beaming harder when Luffy’s attention is fully on her. “I’m Lara! Ace has told me a lot about you.”

“You know Ace?!” Luffy gasps, eyes going wide and a grin breaking across his face.

“Yeah!” Lara replies. “He’s my best friend and partner in crime when we’re not with our crews.”

“COOL!” Luffy shouts, eyes sparkling.

Lara can tell he’s about to ask her to tell him about her adventures with Ace, but at that moment, a female Tenryubito climbs on the stage and points her gun at Camie, shouting, “Now, then fish! Time to die!!”

Everyone in the room tenses as though preparing to attack the Tenryubito, but before they can do anything, her eyes roll back and she collapses on the floor in a dead faint.

Lara blinks, because that was Conqueror’s Haki if she ever saw it, but she can’t figure out who here could have used it. Because it sure as hell wasn’t her.

Behind Camie’s fishbowl, the wall is suddenly pulled apart like a curtain, revealing an old man and a giant standing behind it.

Lara goes stiff. _Surely…?_

“You really are one screwed up old man,” the giant says, leaning over to speak to the man. “I was planning on stealing some from whoever bought me too, if I was lucky enough to get the chance.”

And now Lara’s certain, because there’s only one old man she knows that’s crazy enough to get sold into slavery for _money_.

Silvers Rayleigh steps out from the shadows and onto the stage, saying, “I mean, just take a look at me… I’m just an old man now. Who would want me as a slave?! WAHAHAHA!!”

He takes a swig from his flask and looks around, as if noticing for the first time that he’s not alone.

“Hm? What’s this? Looks like everyone’s looking at us…”

Lara smacks her forehead with her palm as noise and chaos explodes everywhere within the auction house. Rayleigh sure knows how to make an entrance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think? Is Lara not just the cutest thing? I love her so much!! And to those of you who have read some of my other stories, you might recognize Lara's personality from other OC's of mine. That is because Lara is essentially my one true OC. She follows me into many different fandoms and stories and, even if she doesn't always have the same name or the same backstory, her soul is still the same. And to those of you who might call Lara a self insert... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA X'D LOL! Lara is so far from my personality that its not even funny! So no, she's not a self insert, just an OC that I've put a lot of time, thought, and detail into.


	2. Sabaody Archipelago Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lara proceeds to completely derail the plotline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished the rest of Chapter one! I'm posting it as a separate chapter though just because I can. DON'T JUDGE ME. I'm starting right where I left off in the first part, so if you don't remember what happened, I would recommend going back for a refresher.
> 
> ENJOY! XD

Rayleigh catches sight of something in the back of the auction house that makes a grin spread across his face.

“Ohh!? Is that Hachi?” Rayleigh shouts and Lara glances back to check—yep, he’s talking to the fishman. “Hey, it’s been a while! What’re you doing here? Where did you get that wound?”

Lara resists the urge to hit her head on a wall repeatedly. Rayleigh gives her a major headache. She had forgotten why she stopped hanging out with the old guy.

“Ahh…” Rayleigh finally seems to realize the scene he’s stepped into, with Tenryubito and their guards beaten up all around him. “No need to say it…” He looks around himself at all the carnage Lara and the Strawhats have caused. “Hmph. Hmph, Hmph, Hmph. I see… In other words, you’ve gotten yourself in a real mess, Hachi.” He glances at the Strawhats. “You guys helped him out? Well then…”

Lara is nearly knocked off her feet by the wave of Haki that sweeps through the room. She notices the Strawhats manage to stay on their feet, and Law looks a little woozy, but otherwise unaffected. Everyone else in the room falls over in a dead faint.

“That straw hat...” Rayleigh addresses Luffy, “suits a fearless man! I’ve been wanting to meet you, Monkey D. Luffy!”

Lara stops paying attention after that. She hears a commotion outside and heads for the doors to see what’s up. Law glances at her as she goes, but doesn’t say anything. No one else notices her leaving.

At the doors, Lara is not surprised to find a whole squadron of marines waiting.

“Look, someone’s coming out!” One of the marines shouts as Lara steps outside.

“THAT’S BLOOD STAINED LARA!!” somebody shouts, sounding panicked.

It’s troublesome that they saw her, even more so that they recognized her, but Lara stopped worrying about the marines when she decided to join the Strawhat’s fight. It’s not like regular marines can do much to hurt her anyways. They need to bring in at least an admiral before they can really cause any damage to her.

Lara shrugs her shoulders as she saunters down the steps of the auction hall to meet the small army.

“Looks like I’m involved,” she sighs, then gives a feral grin. “Might as well take out the trash for the boys.”

~

“I’ll be leaving first,” the annoying red head known as Kidd says. “We’ll even lend you guys a hand! We’ll clean up out front, so you guys rest easy.”

Law glares. No fucking way in hell is he letting _Kidd_ get the best of him. He follows Kidd out of the auction house, Strawhat Luffy hot on his heels and cracking his knuckles.

What they see in front of the auction house is _not_ what any of them were expecting.

Law saw Lara leave the auction house ahead of him, but he didn’t pay her any mind. Didn’t think she would do anything crazy.

_Goddamn_ was he wrong.

The plaza in front of the auction house looks like a war zone. The whole street is dyed red with blood and, in the center of it all, sitting on a small pile of corpses and thoroughly covered in blood, is Lara.

“Hey boys!” she chirps at the three pirates. “I took out the trash for you.”

She looks so damn pleased with herself that Law almost wants to laugh, despite the fact that he feels almost sick to his stomach. Law has seen a lot of blood and guts in his life. He’s a fucking surgeon for crying out loud. However, the scene he’s looking at now is like he’s been teleported into a fucking horror movie.

“What the fuck,” says Kidd, and for once, Law agrees with him.

Law knows Lara isn’t the weak little girl she appears to be at first glance. He spent enough time walking around Sabaody with her to notice that she holds herself like a predator and looks at everything around her like a wild animal searching for prey. She walks and talks with an easy grace that only truly dangerous people have. So of course Law knows that Lara can handle herself. That doesn’t mean he expected her to take out a whole miniature army by herself.

Lara must realize what Law’s thinking, because she gives him a flat look and says, “I may look like a frail little girl that needs protecting, but I’m not. I can take care of myself.”

“I never said you couldn’t,” Law replies.

Lara responds with a cheeky little grin and opens her mouth to retort when she suddenly freezes and leaps away as a laser beam shoots right into the pile of bodies she was sitting on.

When the dust settles, Bartholomew Kuma is standing in the spot where the pile of corpses is still smoldering.

“WHY IS THERE A SHICHIBUKAI HERE?!” Kidd yells.

“Why in a place like this?” Law wonders aloud. It doesn’t make sense that a Shichibukai would come to deal with the pirates instead of an admiral. Though he really doesn’t want to meet an admiral either.

Kuma fixes his gaze on Law and says his name like he wasn’t expecting Law to be here.

“So, you know my name, huh?” Law says flatly. That’s not exactly good news for him.

Kuma’s response is to shoot a laser at him. Law activates his ‘room’ with a flick of his wrist and teleports out of the way.

“CAPTAIN!” Bepo shouts, sounding panicked. Law glances at him in time to see Lara yank Bepo out of the way of another laser. He makes a mental note to thank her later if they both survive this mess.

“It’s just bad luck that this guy is here!!” Kidd growls. “Trafalgar, you’re in the way.”

Law glares at the redhead.

“Do you want to die?” he asks sinisterly. “I thought I told you _not to order me around_.” He looks at Kuma and smirks, “Looks like today’s a day for meeting unexpected big names… and I don’t want to add an admiral on top of that. You’re going to let us pass, Bartholomew Kuma!”

“We’re gonna have to fight if we wanna get out of this,” Lara says from where she’s standing with Bepo and the rest of Law’s crew. When did they even get here anyways?

~

The fight is over depressingly quickly. Turns out Kuma wasn’t the real Kuma. It was a robot version of Kuma. Lara didn’t even have to use her Devil Fruit powers. Against four pirate captains and their crews, the Kuma bot didn’t stand a chance. Yet Lara can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t over.

She’s proven correct when, a second later, a cannonball fires right into the middle of the plaza with a tall man riding on top of it.

The Marine Admiral, Kizaru.

Lara doesn’t waste any time waiting for Kizaru to kill them. She grabs Law’s arm, yells, “Run if you wanna live!” to the Strawhats, and sprints away down to the nearest street, dragging Law along behind her.

“What the fuck?!” Law swears, gaining his footing and actually starting to run with Lara instead of being dragged.

“I don’t know about you,” Lara shouts back to him, “but I sure as hell am _not_ getting killed by a Marine Admiral! Not today!”

Law apparently doesn’t have anything to say to that, because he keeps running beside Lara in silence.

When Lara finally deems that they are far enough away, she stops running to catch her breath. Glancing around, Lara notices that the rest of Law’s crew has followed them, and actually managed to keep up with the ridiculous pace she was setting. She supposes that after years of running after Law with his long legs, they’re probably used to it.

“We should probably get off the island if there’s a Marine Admiral after us,” Law says.

“That would be a great idea if I actually had a way off the island,” Lara laughs.

“Where the fuck is your crew?” Law snaps.

“In the New World.”

“Well then how the fuck did you even get here?!”

“One of my crew members has the Uchū uchū no mi,” Lara explains. “She can teleport.”

“What the actual fuck,” Law deadpans. “Well why don’t you have her pick you up??”

“I don’t have a way to contact her. I was planning to meet up with Ace, so I wasn’t supposed to need Chessy to come pick me up for a few months,” Lara reminds him.

Law groans, “Come on, my ship is this way. You can use the fucking snailphone.”

“Okay, thanks!” Lara chirps.

~

Law generally doesn’t like judging people by first impressions. After all, his first impression of Lara had been that of a fourteen year old girl when it turns out that she’s actually a twenty year old badass. That being said, his first impression of Lara’s first mate, Darkle D. Sani, is a mother hen worrying over her lost chick.

“ _Lara!_ ” Sani says when Lara calls her on the snailphone. “ _Thank god you got a hold of us, where are you?_ ”

“Still on Sabaody,” Lara replies.

“ _Then I assume you haven’t read today’s paper._ ”

“Nope. Why? What’s up?”

There’s a pause on the other end.

“ _Lara… okay I don’t know how to say this so I’m just gonna go ahead and say it; Ace has been captured and is going to be executed in three days._ ”

“WHAT?!”

Sani sighs, “ _How did I know that was going to be your reaction…?_ ”

“THIS IS _NOT_ OKAY, SANI WE HAVE TO GO SAVE HIM!”

“ _And how are we supposed to do that? Even if we turned around now we wouldn’t make it to Marineford in time for the execution._ ”

Lara pauses to think for a moment.

“Have Chessy and Quinn teleport over. I can get Law to help us get to Marineford and then me, Chessy, and Quinn should be enough to make a difference in a war between the marines and Whitebeard.”

Law wants to butt in because he is most definitely _not_ getting involved in a war, but Sani replies before he can say anything.

“ _… Law? Please tell me you’re not talking about the Surgeon of Death, Trafalgar Law??_ ”

“That’s the one!” Lara chirps. “I met him while I was waiting for Ace to show up and now we’re friends.”

“We are _not_ friends,” Law snaps, glaring at Lara. She sticks her tongue out.

There’s a dull thump from the other side of the line. Law assumes it was Sani hitting her head on a wall. He certainly wants to hit _his_ head on a wall.

“ _What are your coordinates?_ ” a new voice says.

“Chessy! You and Quinn are gonna come help me and Law crash an execution!!”

“I never agreed to this,” Law groans.

“ _Captain…_ ”

“Bepo!” Lara turns to the bear. “What are our coordinates?”

Bepo rattles off the coordinates of the ship to the girl on the other side of the line. There’s a pause. Then…

“Nice submarine.”

“JESUS FUCK!”

A female fishman with wild waves of pink hair and a young human girl with curly brown hair are standing in the middle of Law’s submarine.

“Chessy!” Lara squeals, hurling herself at the two girls. “Quinn!”

The fishman knocks Lara on the head with her fist.

“As soon as we get home you are grounded!” Chessy snarls at her captain.

Law has never heard of a crew grounding their captain before, but he thinks maybe the Strawhats should try it, seeing as Lara looks shrinks back from her friend, looking repentant.

“ _Law?_ ” Sani says, still on the snailphone.

“Yeah?”

“ _Do try to keep my captain out of trouble. If she dies, I’ll mutilate your body and use your blood to paint my wicked pictures._ ”

“Noted.”


	3. Marineford

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follows the battle of Marineford as Lara and Luffy fight to save Ace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO'S BACK SUCKAAAAAAAS!!! That's right... Its me again ;) Sorry it took so long to finish this chapter! I got hella stuck on some parts ^^; Anyways, before we get started I got some important information for you about my Devil Fruit headcannons that will be featuring in this story.
> 
> Okay, so, I have a headcannon that some Devil Fruits are just naturally stronger than others, regardless of synastry. What I mean by that is that unlike when Luffy’s Devil Fruit was stronger than Enel’s because rubber doesn’t conduct electricity, the powers these Devil Fruits give the users makes the user naturally stronger than other Devil Fruit users. Does that make sense?? In my story, there are three types of Devil Fruits; Regular Devil Fruits, Master Devil Fruits, and Ancient Devil Fruits.  
> Regular Devil Fruits are the weakest, though they are by no means weak. There are innumerous Regular Fruits in existence. Examples of Regular Fruits are; Luffy’s Gumu Gumu no mi, Ace’s Mera Mera no mi, and Choppers Hito Hito no mi. Basically almost every Devil Fruit we’ve encountered in the One Piece story.  
> Master Devil Fruits are the middle ones. They are stronger than Regular Fruits, but weaker than Ancient Fruits. There are fifty known Master Fruits in existence. There could be more, but only fifty have been found and accounted for so far. Examples of Master Fruits are; Doflamingo’s Ito Ito no mi, Akainu’s Magu Magu no mi, and Aokiji’s Hie Hie no mi.  
> Ancient Devil Fruits are the ridiculously overpowered Devil Fruits that could destroy the entire world if the user wanted to. These Devil Fruits are extremely rare and hard to find. There are only 5 known Ancient Fruits in existence. Examples of Ancient Fruits are; Law’s Ope Ope no mi, Blackbeard’s Yami Yami no mi, and Whitebeard’s Gura Gura no mi.  
> My story introduces five new Devil Fruits; one Regular, three Master, and one Ancient. The Regular Fruit is the Passion Fruit, the Jō Jō no mi. It allows the user to control the emotions of others. The three Master Fruits are the Blood Fruit—Chi Chi no mi—the Time fruit—Koro Koro no mi—and the Space Fruit—Uchū Uchū no mi. The Chi Chi no mi allows the user to control their own blood and the blood of others that are close enough to the user. The Koro Koro no mi allows the user to slow down, speed up, and freeze time in the space around them. The Uchū Uchū no mi allows the user to teleport and create portals. The Ancient Fruit in my story is probably one of the most powerful Devil Fruits in existence; the Life Fruit, the Seimei Seimei no mi. It allows the user to control life itself. It can drain the life from any creature or it can keep a dying creature alive.  
> So I hope you read that all, because it’s pretty important to the story ;) I’m not going to tell you which of my OCs has which Devil Fruit, you’ll figure it out when they use their powers. And if you don’t… God have mercy on your stupid soul. JKJK just ask if you can’t figure it out. Chances are I’m being the idiot and haven’t explained very well.
> 
> Also, I have a couple pictures you should check out.  
> This one is a picture of Shiro from Deadman Wonderland (a bloody beautiful anime), who I modeled Lara after: http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/deadmanwonderland/images/3/35/Shiro_as_the_Red_Man.png/revision/latest?cb=20110406185859  
> This is a picture from Adekan, where I got the idea for Lara's battle outfit. Look at the picture on the right: https://41.media.tumblr.com/641662b1797e18992f0caf1f127d6c88/tumblr_nb44ksdC8Z1tdlbhko1_500.png  
> Here's another pic from Adekan of the battle outfit: https://41.media.tumblr.com/52d53408be021f9cbccaefd3b8c245f0/tumblr_nal53nZ8Xs1rc93aro1_500.jpg
> 
> That's all my random rambling information for now! Now get to reading and ENJOY!

The morning of Ace’s execution see’s Law’s submarine near the bay at Marineford, waiting amongst Whitebeard’s ships for the attack to start. Law isn’t even sure what he’s doing there. Somehow, Lara had taken over his ship and he had _let_ her.

Speaking of Lara… Law glances over at the white haired pirate. She is dressed for battle in a white, knee length yukata, her long hair pulled up in a high pony-tail so it’s not dragging on the ground. Underneath the yukata, Law can see the tops of several knives strapped to her torso. He wonders just how many she has concealed beneath her light clothes. Elegant, white, light armor covers Lara’s shoulders and collarbone. There are also white bracers strapped to her forearms and shins with more knives strapped down underneath them.

Lara had gone to speak with Whitebeard the moment they had arrived and, when she returned, the smiling, carefree girl Law had met on Sabaody was gone. She had been replaced by the calm faced Lara Law had caught a glimpse of in the auction house.

“Whitebeard says he is grateful to have our help,” Lara had said in a monotone.

Her two crewmates are acting as though this is perfectly normal for Lara, though. So Law isn’t too concerned. Not that he was worried or anything.

~

The battle begins with a rather impressive show of strength on Whitebeard’s part. The whole fleet, sans the Moby Dick and three of Whitebeard’s best ships, sails through the open Gates of Justice—Lara still isn’t sure how they opened those—and then Whitebeards top four ships rising out of the water in the middle of the bay.

“You wait right there… _Ace_!” Whitebeard shouts, and the battle begins.

When the fighting begins, Lara is only too eager to get onto shore and start pounding some marine ass. She spends maybe a moment wondering why Luffy isn’t here when it’s his _brother_ getting executed before she focuses back on the battle.

Whitebeard starts off the battle using his devil fruit power, making a devastating seaquake that shakes the ocean. Lara grips the sides of the boat and endures it, even as her allies fall flat on their asses from the force of the quake. The quake creates two huge tsunamis on either side of Marineford, the giant waves rushing in and threatening to consume the island.

Admiral Aokiji stops the tsunami in its tracks with an Ice Age attack, creating two hulking icebergs on either side of the island and effectively boxing the pirates in. He then freezes the water of the bay, trapping the boats where they are.

The pirates start jumping off the decks of their ships and dashing across the frozen ice towards shore, shouting war cries as they go.

Admiral Akainu throws a lava fist at the frozen water, causing huge chunks to evaporate and the rest to break apart.

That’s when Oars Jr, an enormous giant, joins the battle.

“ **Ace is nice** …” Oars bellows. “ **I won’t let him die**!”

He then goes storming into the bay, roaring at the top of his lungs, and Lara has to cover her ears to keep her eardrums from rupturing. The marines immediately begin focusing their attacks on Oars, trying to bring him down before he gets any closer to the shore.

It takes the marines a long time to take Oars down. So long, that the giant manages to open a path into the bay that Law’s ship and several others manage to slip through before the marines can block it off again. So long, that Oars very nearly makes it to Ace before he finally collapses.

“OAAAAAAARS!!” Ace screams, and Lara is close enough that she can see him now. He’s barely a speck on the execution platform, but it’s enough to make her heart surge. Because Ace looks _beaten_.

“Don’t worry, Ace,” Lara murmurs to herself. “I’m coming for you.”

“Charge in over Oars’s body!” Lara hears Whitebeard order. The pirates all hasten to comply.

“I think,” Lara says cheerfully, throwing off her yukata and showing off the numerous weapons strapped to her body, “it’s about time we joined the battle, don’t you?”

Her friends simply grin at her, obviously have been thinking along the same lines.

“See you on the battlefield, Captain!” Chessy says cheerfully, giving a little salute before doing a graceful swan dive off the deck of the submarine and swimming to shore. Even though she’s a devil fruit user, as a fishwoman, Chessy can still swim in the ocean. It makes Lara pretty jealous on days when not being able to swim is inconvenient.

“Quinn, can you make a bridge to shore?” Lara asks.

“One bridge coming up, Captain!” Quinn chirps.

She slides into a wide stance, legs spread and knees bent and thrusts both hands out in front of her, breathing out in a _huff_. She would look utterly ridiculous if the effects were not instantaneous. An entire coral reef rises out of the water, still growing and expanding as it goes, until there is a long enough platform for Lara to walk across to the shore.

Lara grins, because she will never not love her friend’s devil fruit ability, and kisses Quinn on the cheek as a thank you before jumping gracefully from the deck to the coral platform with Quinn following her faithfully.

Halfway across the coral bridge, Quinn stops and slams a palm into the coral, causing a pillar of coral to shoot up into the sky, creating a useful spot for Quinn to survey the battle from. As a doctor, it’s important for her to stay out of the battle and look for injured allies, but Quinn has other ways to fight. A few seconds later, Lara watches a flurry of arrows shoot into the fray of pirates and marines. With Quinn’s aim, there’s no way she’ll miss her target. Lara doesn’t worry and keeps running, charging ahead with a single minded determination.

She looks up and spots Chessy dancing with her chakrams—or as Lara likes to call them, ‘circles of _death_ ’—making graceful and deadly arcs through the crowd, blood spurting from many wounds as Chessy teleports through battle. It’s a beautiful, if a little morbid, scene.

Lara tilts her head back a little further and she can clearly see Ace now, face twisted in what Lara assumes is emotional agony. She knows Ace well enough that she can tell what he’s thinking. What he’s screaming to the pirates that are close enough to hear him.

_WHY ME?! Why risk your lives for me?!_

Lara hates that he thinks this way, thought he got over it a long time ago when his secret was revealed to his crew and none of them gave a damn.

She pauses just before the shore to take a deep breath and fill her lungs, before _bellowing_ , “ _ACE_!! SHUT UP AND LET US LOVE YOU!”

Ace’s eyes are focused on her now, and she can see the shock written all over his face.

 _You thought I wouldn’t come for you?_ she thinks, rolling her eyes fondly. _Idiot._

~

Ace can see his best friend, his partner in everything, from where he’s kneeling on the platform. Just a second ago she screamed at him for doubting his comrades. Told him to shut up and let them love him, let them _save_ him.

Ace wants to tell her to get lost. Doesn’t want to watch Lara lay down her life for him when he doesn’t deserve it. Doesn’t deserve _her_. But that will only cause her to yell at him more; might even make her more reckless. Ace _knows_ Lara. Knows how she thinks and acts. He knows that the second he opens his mouth to tell her to leave him and let him die, she’ll remind him of why he wants to live.

 _Idiot!_ she’ll shout. _What about your brother?! Are you just going to leave him like this?!_

And no. Ace won’t leave Luffy like this. If he did, his idiot of a little brother will never forgive him; will probably do endless amounts of stupid things in the name of remembering Ace; will probably end up getting himself killed without Ace there to protect him. And that’s why Ace wants to live; why he _needs_ to live.

“AAAAAAAACE!!!” Speak of the fucking devil.

A battle ship comes falling out of the sky and lands in the bay, thankfully on a spot not still covered in ice.

“LUFFY!” Ace cries, because _that was his little brother_ he heard screaming his name.

“ACE~!” Luffy shouts back, standing on the wreckage of a battleship he came in on, “I finally found you!! _We’re here to save you_!”

Literally _everyone_ reacts to Luffy’s arrival. Ace sees several of the shichibukai stop in the middle of their battle’s to smirk at his little brother. It appears that Luffy’s made a lot of waves among the warlords. Sitting next to him, Garp looks about ready to tear out his hair.

“GARP!! IS THAT ANOTHER MEMBER OF YOUR FAMILY!!?” Admiral Sengoku shouts.

“ _LUFFYYYYYYYY!!!_ ” Garp screams, pulling at his hair.

Ace wants to laugh, but at the same time he wants to cry, because this is his little brother and he’s the last person Ace wanted to watch lay down his life for him. Ace never deserved something as good and pure as Luffy. And Luffy never deserved such a shitty brother as Ace. Not for the first time, Ace wishes Sabo were here so he wouldn’t have to worry about leaving Luffy alone.

Ace spots Jimbe among the crowd of allies Luffy brought with him and almost sags in relief. If Jimbe is with him, it means that he’s willing to put his life on the line to protect Luffy. It was the last request Ace made of him before he was taken from Impel Down.

“So this is your answer, is it, Jimbe!?” Sengoku shouts angrily at the fishman.

“Indeed!” Jimbe replies. “I resign as a shichibukai!”

“That’s a screwed up team if I ever saw one…” Garp says. “It barely seems possible that they all share a common objective… Particularly on _this_ battlefield.”

At that moment, Crocodile, one of the allies that came with Luffy, disappears from the group and re-appears behind Whitebeard.

Ace’s blood surges in anger, but before he can start screaming profanities at Crocodile for trying to hurt his father, Luffy appears out of nowhere and kicks Crocodile in the face.

“We had an arrangement, did we not?” Crocodile shouts, and Ace wants to laugh because he clearly didn’t know what he was getting into, making a deal with Luffy. “Why do you defend Whitebeard!?”

“So this guy really is Whitebeard, huh?” Luffy replies. “Then you’re not touching him! This is the one guy Ace really cares about!”

 _You idiot!_ Ace wants to scream. _You’re wrong, Luffy! I care about_ you _too!_

“Boy…” Whitebeard says, addressing Luffy. “That straw hat you wear… It bears a strong resemblance to the hat Red Hair once wore.”

“Oh, hey!” Luffy says like he only just noticed Whitebeard—knowing him, that’s true. “You know Shanks, huh? I’m borrowing this hat from him!”

“Are you here to save your brother?” Whitebeard asks.

“That’s right!”

“I hope you understand who you’re up against. You will simply be throwing your life away!”

“SHUT UP!” Luffy roars, suddenly furious. “IT’S NOT YOUR JOB TO DECIDE THAT!! I’ve heard about you… You want to be the Pirate King, right!!? Well, the one who’s going to be the Pirate King is ME!!!”

The whole battlefield freezes at Luffy’s bold declaration. And if Ace had free hands, he would be doing an epic facepalm combo right now.

“…Well, I’ll be damned,” Whitebeard smirks. “YOU’D BETTER NOT GET IN MY WAY, GREENHORN!!”

“I’LL DO THIS HOWEVER I DAMN WELL WANT!!” Luffy screams back. “I’M SAVING ACE MYSELF!!!”

Once again, the whole battlefield freezes and gapes at Luffy and Whitebeard, because _Luffy just challenged Whitebeard_ and that’s something no one’s ever dared to do.

“Dear me,” Admiral Kizaru says, appearing next to Sengoku. “May I assume that all of the intruders may be executed, Sengoku-san?”

“Naturally!!” Sengoku replies and Ace writhes.

_DON’T TOUCH MY BROTHER! ANYTHING BUT THAT!!_

~

The tides of the battle turn in the pirates favor when Luffy enters the battle. Lara cannot say she is surprised. After all, the boy is a force to be reckoned with and, when he sets his mind to something, he can’t be stopped.

Lara slashes and hacks with her knives, while Quinn’s arrows fly around her and Chessy dances beside her. Law isn’t far behind, using his devil fruit power to send marines’ body parts flying around him like a hurricane as he moves through the battle. He’s doing alright, but Lara can tell he’s not used to fighting this many opponents at once without backup.

“Help Law,” she orders Chessy, and the fishgirl nods once before falling back to fight alongside the surgeon. Lara pushes forward.

“STAY BACK!!” Ace screams, and Lara almost pauses in her race towards him.

But Ace isn’t looking at her. He’s starring straight at Luffy with tears in his eyes and he looks absolutely _wrecked_.

“LUFFY!!!” Ace screams his brother’s name like his life depends on it, and maybe it does. “I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO TELL YOU THIS!! YOU’RE A PIRATE, JUST LIKE ME! WE’VE BOTH SAILED THE OCEAN AS OUR HEARTS GUIDED US!! I HAVE MY OWN ADVENTURE TO LIVE! I HAVE MY OWN NAKAMA!! I DON’T REMEMBER ASKING YOU TO INTERFERE!!!”

 _Idiot!_ Lara thinks, _How the fuck are you gonna live your own adventure if you die here?! That’s what we’re all trying to prevent! Why can’t you understand that?_

But that’s wrong, isn’t it? It’s not that Ace doesn’t understand, it’s that he doesn’t want to watch his nakama die for him. But Lara doesn’t understand that either. If a nakama is willing to lay down there life for you, you should hold your own life that much closer. Because they loved you enough to put your life before theirs.

“A WEAKLING LIKE YOU…” Ace continues, “COMING TO SAVE ME!? DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE I’M GOING TO FORGIVE YOU FOR THAT? THIS IS HUMILIATING!! _GET OUT OF HERE_ LUFFY!! WHY DID YOU COME??”

“ _’CAUSE I’M YOUR BROTHER_!!!” Luffy screams back, still pushing forward. “I DON’T GIVE A CRAP ABOUT THOSE STUPID PIRATE RULES!”

Lara’s breath catches in her throat as a marine shoves his sword through her abdomen. She barely misses a beat before slitting his throat and ripping the sword out. Blood sprays out of the wound and Lara activates her devil fruit power.

The blood spurting out of her wound turns sharp as needles and Lara spins to send it flying out in an arc of deadly rain. The needles stab into the marines around her, killing most of them and wounding the rest.

Instead of staying and fighting them, Lara pulls the blood seeping into the ground towards her and rides the wave of gore to get closer to Luffy.

She alights safely on the ground beside him and gives the boy a mischievous grin, which he returns. They both push forward together, coming closer and closer to the platform with Ace on it.

“What do you think you are doing allowing a single rookie to shift the flow of battle!?” Sengoku shouts at the marines. “That man is another future dangerous element!! Not only was he raised together with Ace as an adoptive brother, he is also… THE FLESH AND BLOOD SON OF THE REVOLUTIONARY DRAGON!!”

This actually comes as a surprise to Lara, but she quickly gets over it. Right now, it doesn’t matter _who_ Luffy’s father is. All that matters is Ace.

A giant marine appears to block their path.

Luffy shouts “Third gear!” at the same time as Lara begins gathering a giant ball of blood in the palm of her hand.

The giant raises his club, screaming a battle cry. Lara and Luffy stand shoulder to shoulder and throw their attacks at him.

“Gomu Gomu Gigant Rifle!”

“Chi Chi Bullet!”

It’s a bit overkill.

Luffy pauses and sucks in a breath as Lara dances around him, keeping the marines back.

“I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SAY!!” Luffy screams at his brother. “I’M GOING TO SAVE YOU EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!!!”

Lara sees the exact moment when Ace gives up fighting against his brother. He gives up fighting at all, which isn’t _great_ , but she’s glad he isn’t fighting the people who want to save him anymore.

Lara places a hand on Luffy’s shoulder.

“Let’s go save your brother,” she says with a smirk.

Luffy’s answering grin is tired, but still blindingly brilliant.

~

The rest of the battle turns to mush in Lara’s brain. She fights to keep Luffy alive and moving towards Ace. Luffy falls once, but he manages to convince Iva to give him more tension hormones—Lara doesn’t even want to know when or why he got them in the first place, those things are _horrible_ for your body—and they keep racing towards Ace. They try to execute Ace once, but Luffy lets loose this _enormous_ wave of untrained Haki that knocks everyone with weak wills out.

The next thing she knows, she and Luffy are running side by side up a bridge that Inazuma made that goes straight up to Ace’s platform. And then suddenly Garp is in the way.

“Grandpa!” Luffy cries. “Please move!!”

“I’m not moving an inch, Luffy!!” Garp shouts back. “I’m a Vice Admiral of the marines! Luffy I’ve been fighting pirates since long before you were even born! You’ll only get through here over my dead body!! STRAWHAT LUFFY!! That is the path you two have chosen!!”

“I call bullshit,” Lara mutters, but neither seems to hear her.

“I can’t do that Grandpa!” Luffy calls desperately. “Please _move_!!”

“If you can’t, then ACE WILL _DIE_!!”

“NO!!”

“I’ve done plenty of things you don’t like!!” Garp shouts, drawing his fist back. Lara gets the fuck out of the way. “I won’t hold back! Luffy! You’re my enemy!!”

Luffy punches Garp in the face and he goes flying. Lara knew he was bullshitting about not holding back.

And then suddenly she and Luffy are standing on the platform, gasping for breath next to Ace, who looks awestruck. And Lara is only _partially_ covered in blood.

“ _Ace…_ ” Lara gasps as Luffy collapses on his knees beside his brother and fumbles with the keys to his seastone chains—Lara doesn’t want to know how he got those… probably shenanigans—muttering under his breath.

“Lara… Luffy, you..!” Ace cuts himself off and swallows hard.

At that moment, Sengoku’s shadow looms over them, growing bigger with each passing moment.

“WAIT!!” Sengoku bellows, and his voice seems to echo. “Don’t think I’ll let you escape!!”

Lara whips around to stare at the giant that is Sengoku, but Luffy completely ignores him, so focused on the task of freeing his brother.

Lara puts herself between Ace—and by extension, Luffy—and Sengoku.

“I won’t let you touch him,” Lara growls.

“I’LL EXECUTE YOU MYSELF!!” Sengoku roars, pulling his fist back.

Lara coats herself in busoshoku haki and takes the attack. She’s not as good at busoshoku haki as she is at haoshoku, but it’s still barely enough to withstand Sengoku’s attack. She doesn’t think she could take a second punch from Sengoku.

Sengoku pulls back to punch again, and Lara hears Luffy yell, “Hey Three, protect Ace with a wall!” as he yanks Lara back behind him and bites down on his thumb.

Someone catches Lara before she lands and she looks up at an unfamiliar face. He’s dressed as a marine, but from the way Luffy was talking to him, she assumes he’s an ally.

A wall of wax goes up around Lara, Ace, and the stranger—Lara thinks Luffy called him ‘Three’, but she isn’t sure—protecting them from Sengoku’s next attack that completely destroys the execution platform.

Lara catches Ace and Three as they fall and calls up another wave of blood to catch them and Luffy.

“I’m making a key!!” Three shouts at Luffy. “We’ll get those handcuffs off in a second!!”

“Got it!”

“If I told you the reason I’m here is to fulfill my lost comrade’s final wish…” Three says, manipulating handful of wax into a key, “would you laugh at me!!?”

“Of course not!” Luffy responds catching the finished key.

“SAVE ACE!!” Lara screams at him, watching a wave of bullets and cannon balls coming towards them.

Fire explodes around them, but Lara feels a strong arm hook around her waist and looks up into the dark brown eyes of Portgas D. Ace. He’s grabbed Luffy by the scruff of his neck and there’s fire burning all around them, but it doesn’t touch either Lara or Luffy while Ace has got a hold on them.

“You’ve always been this way, Luffy!” Ace growls at his brother, as the flames begin to subside. “You never listen to me… and you do the STUPIDEST THINGS!!!”

A shout of joy goes up all around the battlefield when the pirates realize Ace has been freed, but Lara knows it isn’t over yet. They freed Ace, now they have to get away.

“Don’t get careless, you two!!” Ace shouts at them, and Lara and Luffy shout back their affirmatives.

~

Lara fits in seamlessly with Ace and Luffy in terms of synchronization. Her blood, which slices through marines mercilessly, splashes harmlessly against his and Luffy’s skin. Ace knows it’s because Lara trained herself—trained her blood—to recognize friend from foe; to not hurt her friends. And Lara recognizes both Ace and Luffy as friends. Her blood will never hurt them.

Lara fights side by side with Ace and Luffy and they barrel through the marines. When the marines shoot at them, all three of them stand their ground. The bullets bounce off the rubber Luffy, go straight through Ace, and Lara starts bleeding profusely from bullet holes. She gathers the gushing blood around herself and then sends it whipping out around her like hundreds of deadly whips. Ace has always loved the way Lara fights, like she’s dancing.

When two marines come at Luffy with swords, Ace puts his hand on Luffy’s head—forcing him to duck—and hoists himself into the air above his brother, the blades sliding harmlessly through his fiery body.

“That’s my little brother you know,” Ace says to the marines, who are looking at him with shock and fear written all over their faces. “Don’t lay a hand on him!” Ace pulls his fist back and shouts, “HIKEN!” and flames come bursting out of his fist and burn away all the marines in his path.

“You two work well together!” Lara laughs, and Ace finds that scene strangely beautiful; even with all the blood covering her body.

Ace grins at her as Lara comes to stand with him and Luffy, all of them with their backs to each other, facing their enemies.

“You’ve gotten stronger, Luffy!” Ace compliments.

“I’ll be better than you someday, Ace!”

“I could kick _both_ your asses,” Lara interjects, “so shut up and _somebody please get Admiral Aokiji or he’ll freeze my blood_!!!”

“Wah! It’s him!!” Luffy shouts.

“I got him,” Ace says, stepping forward. “Get back, you two!”

“PHEASANT BEAK!!” A wall of icy feathers surge forward.

“KYOU KAEN!!” A wall of flame rises up to meet Aokiji’s attack.

Suddenly, Ace hears Whitebeard’s voice, rising over the din of battle.

“This is… my _final order_!” Whitebeard says. “Listen well… Whitebeard Pirates!!! YOU WILL ALL PART WITH ME HERE! YOU WILL ALL LIVE… AND SAFELY RETURN TO THE NEW WORLD!! THE TIMES HAVE PASSED ME BY! THERE’S NO SHIP TO TAKE ME TO THIS NEW AGE!! _GO!! MEN!!!_ ”

Ace can’t do anything but stop and stare at this man who welcomed him as a son. Who welcomed the son of Gold Roger. Who became the only father Ace has ever known.

“Old man!” Luffy shouts.

“Boss…!” Ace cries weakly.

Lara says nothing, but her fingers on Ace’s arm give him strength.

“It’s been a long journey…” Whitebeard continues, ignoring his men’s cries of protest. “ _Let’s finish it… Marines_!!”

Ace can do nothing but stand there and stare as Whitebeard proceeds to punch the air again and again, sending shockwaves through the air that rip the island apart. People are screaming all around him, but he can’t hear any of their voices. Whitebeard is shouting at the pirates, but Ace can’t hear his words.

“ACE!” Luffy shouts, and Ace finally snaps out of it. “Let’s go!! The old man is prepared!”

“… I know!!” Ace says. “I won’t let it be in vain!!”

Ace sweeps his leg out and a wave of fire follows in its wake.

“GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!!!”

Ace charges towards Whitebeard and lands on his hands and knees before his father.

“I don’t need your words…” Whitebeard says, “but let me ask you one thing. Was I… a good father?”

Ace doesn’t even need to think about that.

“Of course!!”

Whitebeard laughs.

“Run! Get to the ship!!” Jimbei says, appearing beside Ace. “Ace!! Luffy, get in front!! They’re gunning for you! The Boss wants as many people to survive as possible!”

“WE STOLE A BATTLESHIP!!” Someone shouts. “QUICK, GET ON!”

“LOOK OUT!!!” Someone else shouts as a magma fist appears in the sky. “IT’S AKAINU!!!”

“They save Ace and then immediately run away?” Akainu says, disdain clear in his voice. “What a bunch of cowards you are, Whitebeard Pirates. But he is the Captain… I guess there’s no helping it! After all, Whitebeard… is a loser from a bygone age!!”

Ace freezes, his blood running hot in his veins.

“A loser?” Ace repeats. _Whitebeard?_ “Take back… what you just said!!!”

“NO! ACE, KEEP GOING!!” Lara shouts, but her voice sounds far away.

“He’s mocking my old man…” Ace replies, but he doubts Lara can even hear him.

“ACE!!!” Luffy shouts, and his voice is terrified.

“Your real father, Roger, stood in his way,” Akainu continues, his beady eyes fixed on Ace. “And so Whitebeard is a loser who will never become King. How am I mistaken? You bunch of thugs keep yelling Boss this, Boss that… You prance about the seas pretending to be a family.

“ _STOP RIGHT THERE!!!_ ”

“For how many decades has he ruled the seas, never becoming King… and never accomplishing anything!? In the end, he was stabbed by his idiot son who was fooled by some sweet talk!! And he’s going to die protecting that fool!! He really did live an empty life, didn’t he?”

“ _STOP IT!!!_ ” Ace screams. “THE OLD MAN GAVE US A PLACE WHERE WE BELONGED!!! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HIS GREATNESS?!”

“If people don’t live the right way, there’s no reason for them to live!!” Akainu argues. “Pirates like you _don’t deserve a place to belong_! WHITEBEARD WILL DIE AS A LOSER!! A FITTING DEATH FOR THE ADMIRAL OF A MOUNTAIN OF GARBAGE!!”

“ _WHITEBEARD IS THE PIRATE WHO CREATED THIS ERA!!!_ ” Ace screams back. “THIS ERA WILL BE KNOWN… BY WHITEBEARD’S NAME!!”

Both Ace and Akainu attack at the same time and there is an explosion of fire and magma. Ace reels back in shock and pain as his hand is burned.

“Did you get careless because you’re a logia type as well?” Akainu asks. “You are merely ‘fire’! I am ‘magma’ that consumes ‘fire’! My power completely outclasses yours!! The Pirate King, Gold Roger! The Revolutionary, Dragon! I’m amazed that their two sons turned out to be brothers! Great sin already runs through your blood! No matter who else escapes, I will never let you two brothers go!!”

And suddenly Akainu is lunging at Luffy, who is kneeling on the ground not far from Ace. Akainu is going to kill Luffy and Ace can’t do anything to stop him. There’s only one thing Ace can do to protect his brother. And Ace _moves_.

It doesn’t hurt as much as he thought it might. Maybe because the magma immediately cauterized the wound. Maybe because Ace is in a state of shock. He can’t feel much of anything right now. Ace collapses on Luffy even as everyone else around him whirls into motion.

“Sorry I couldn’t let you save me…” Ace murmurs. “Haa… I’m sorry.”

“What the hell are you talking about!!?” Luffy sounds panicked. “Somebody help him! Please save Ace!!!”

“It’s too late!! Haa… I can tell that my life is coming to an end… He burned up my insides… I’m done for… so… listen, Luffy…”

“What are you talking about? Ace are you gonna die?! YOU PROMISED!!! YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN’T DIE!!! ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU SAID ACE?!”

“Yeah… Just like with Sabo, if I didn’t have an annoying little brother like you… I would never have thought… to live…”

_If Gold Roger had a kid? Kill him!!_

“Everybody would say that… I can’t blame them…”

_How about we count how many people in the world hate Roger, and stab him with that number of needles?_

_Burn him at the stake!! Everyone in the world would love to see that!! You know what we’d say? “Serves you right!” GYAHAHAHA!_

_I hope these are his last words; “I’m so sorry that a piece of trash like me was born.” Well, it’s not like he exists._

_…_

_Ace!!! Did you cause trouble in town again!?_

_Shut up! If I was strong enough, I would have killed them all!!_

“Oh Yeah… When you see Dadan again… Tell her thanks. Now that I’m about to die… I even kinda miss her… I only have… one regret… That I couldn’t see you achieve your dream. But I’m sure you’ll do it… You’re my brother after all..! Just like… we swore… I’ve lived… with no regrets!!”

“NO!! YOU LIAR!!”

“Haa… haa… it’s not a lie. The thing I really wanted… wasn’t fame or anything. What I really wanted… was to know… that it was okay for me to be born…”

_You idiot… Who cares who your father was? You’re you… and you’re the only one who gets to decide what that means._

“Haa… I can’t… talk for much longer… Luffy, what I’m about to tell you… you go tell… everyone else… Old man…!! Everyone…!! And… Luffy… I’m a worthless man… haa… haa… with the blood of a demon flowing through me…

“Thank you… for loving me!!!”

~

“AAAAAAAAACE!!!!”

When Akainu pierces Ace with his fist, Lara makes a sound that Law didn’t know human vocal chords could make. The marines around Lara seem to explode messily outward in response to her unearthly screech, dropping even as Lara races towards Ace and Luffy. Cursing, Law runs after her, even as Quinn appears seemingly out of thin air with Chessy and falls into step with him.

A dome of blood goes up the second Lara collapses at Ace’s side, shielding them from view. Law skids to a stop outside the wall of blood, but Quinn grabs his wrist and gives a firm yank, pulling him along as the dome opens up for them.

“Lara’s blood recognizes friends,” Chessy whispers to him in response to his confused look, as Quinn kneels beside the unconscious Ace and Luffy, shoving a sobbing Lara away as green light surrounds her hands and flows over Ace’s wounds. Immediately, the skin begins to slowly knit itself back together. Law gapes.

Quinn’s power goes beyond that of a normal Devil Fruit, edging into the territory of God’s power. Life is something no human should have this much power over, and yet Quinn controls the ebb and flow of Ace’s life with just a few twitches of her fingers. Its utterly humbling to watch.

Lara’s snaps up when something outside collides with the dome—Law suspects Akainu’s fist—her eyes glowing dangerously red.

“I’ll kill him,” she whispers, getting to her feet.

The wall of blood parts like a curtain, showing Akainu with his fist pulled back, prepared to strike again. Lara blocks his fist, her whole arm turning black and blocking the magma.

“ ** _Akainu_** ,” Lara says, haki drenching her words in power. “ ** _I’ll kill you_**.”

~

All of Lara’s consciousness focuses on Akainu. Her vision is blurred red, but the lines around the Admiral are sharp and clear. Her blood is alive and thrumming with power, and all of it is focused on killing Akainu. Lara only has to think of Ace, bleeding out from a hole through his chest—trying to protect Luffy—to solidify her determination to kill this man.

Lara is already covered in blood—some of it her own and some of it others’—so she doesn’t even have to reach for her power to lash out at Akainu with a whip of blood. He dodges with surprising swiftness and they begin to circle each other.

Perhaps Akainu senses that words are useless against Lara right now, because he doesn’t even open his mouth to try and goad her into attacking recklessly. Lara isn’t sure she would even hear him if he _did_ say something, her blood is rushing so loudly in her ears.

Her blood thrashes violently around her, begging to be used and turned into the deadly weapon her devil fruit power makes it. Giving in to its demand, Lara gathers her blood around her in a viciously swirling vortex, calling out her deadliest attack.

“RED MILES!!”

Vines of blood explode outwards and skewer the marines closest to her. Lara ignores their screams and focuses on Akainu, who has earned two vines through his stomach. She stalks towards him, her vines billowing out behind her like a huge and bloody cape.

For a second, Akainu looks almost frightened.

Lara attacks again, throwing her vines at the Red Dog with all her power, even as he dodges and blocks them. She manages to snake one vine around his neck and choke him for a moment before he breaks free. It appears to be a draw, but Lara can see that Akainu is losing power and running out of stamina. He’s not blocking her attacks as effectively as before, and his movements have gotten slower.

Lara can win.

And then, of course, she gags and coughs up blood, her Red Miles collapsing all around her as her impressive stamina finally skids to a halt.

Akainu straitens up and smirks at Lara.

“It appears you’ve finally run out of energy,” he says, right before he rams a magma spear through her abdomen.

“LARAAAA!!” she hears Chessy scream, and she turns to look at her friend.

Quinn is gone, assumedly escaped with Law to take care of Luffy, but Chessy… why is she still there?

“Get away…” Lara chokes out. “Chess… _go home to your princess_!!”

Tears streaming down her face, Chessy turns and opens a portal, disappearing through it.

Lara turns her most vicious glare on Akainu, and musters the last of her power. A sphere of blood the size of a golfball forms in the palm of her hand.

Lara places her hand on the center of Akainu’s chest and, before he has time to jump away, shouts, “Chi Chi Bullet!”

The bullet shoots straight through Akainu’s chest and Lara has the pleasure of watching him fall before succumbing to the darkness herself.

_At least… I was able to take him down with me… Ace, I have avenged your death…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think? Did I do a good job with the fight scenes? ARE YOU CRYING OVER ACE BECAUSE I KNOW I AM! Please don't ragequit on me because I killed Ace though, I promise it gets better in the next chapter ;)


	4. Marineford Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the battle of Marineford, everyone tries to recover. Key word. TRIES.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm surprised I got through this chapter so fast! Guess the inspiration hit me hard enough!! Also, I just couldn't wait to post it and make all my lovely readers cry again!! ENJOY!!

“Chess… _go home to your princess_!!”

And Chessy… listens. She hates to leave her captain in the middle of a battlefield where she’s unlikely to survive, but Arya is waiting for her at home, and she _can’t_ leave Arya. She’s sworn to protect Arya for the rest of her life, and she can’t die before completing her mission.

So she turns and opens a portal that will take her home.

Chessy glances over her shoulder one last time, at the pirate who would put her life on the line for her friends, before she steps through the portal and into the blackness of the Beyond.

She doesn’t get very far before she realizes that she doesn’t have to die for Lara. She just has to save her, and that’s a simple enough task when Chessy is involved. All she has to do is grab her captain before teleporting away.

So Chessy opens the portal back up and stumbles out onto the battlefield again. She’s closer to Lara now, and what she sees almost breaks her.

Lara has obviously lost, unconscious as she is, but Akainu isn’t letting her go that easily. He’s holding her up by the neck, and pouring hot lava down her throat.

Chessy screams and attacks Akainu with the last of her strength, unable to watch her captain die by his cruel hands. Akainu drops Lara to block Chessy’s attack, and that’s all the opening Chessy needs. She scoops Lara up in her arms and teleports away, vanishing into the Beyond.

Seconds later, she reappears inside Law’s submarine, clutching Lara’s body to her chest and nearly sobbing.

“Quinn!” Chessy chokes on a sob. “ _Quinn!_ Somebody _HELP ME_!!”

There’s the sound of shouting voices below her, deeper in the ship, but Chessy pays them no mind. All she can see is the blood of her captain, dripping out and staining the floor. And all she can hear is Lara’s gasping breaths, snagging on the wretched wound in her throat. Chessy barely even registers the blue film covering the area until she is suddenly in a different room, Lara’s blood seeping into the clean floor beneath them.

“Holy shit,” comes Quinn’s voice from somewhere in front of them. “TRAFALGAR! IF STRAWHAT IS STABLE WE NEED YOU IN HERE, LIKE _YESTERDAY_!!”

“FUCK,” comes the surgeon’s voice from another room. As he storms in, Law takes one look at Lara bleeding out in Chessy’s arms and shouts, “What the _fuck_ is up with people _bleeding all over_ _my floors_ today?!”

However, he wastes no time shouting orders to his crewmates—who scramble to follow them—and moving to help Chessy with Lara. A member of the crew brings a large bucket of water and a washcloth, which Law takes and begins clearing the blood away from the worst of Lara’s wounds. Chessy stares as the wound is revealed, unable to look away when her captain is _dying_. Most of the wound has been cauterized by Akainu’s lava, so Lara won’t bleed out from it, but it is still a miracle the she is still alive.

“Her hair is a lost cause,” Law says, letting a lock of blood soaked hair slip through his fingers.

Chessy nods numbly. Lara wouldn’t want to keep it anyways. It had always been a symbol of her strength and constant victories in battle. She lost to Akainu, so she would probably just chop it off anyways.

Law pulls out is sword and Chessy automatically tenses, viewing it as a threat until she realizes he is only going to use it to cut Lara’s hair.

The blade swings, and Law dumps seven feet of bloody red hair in a bucket and kicks it into the corner of the room.

“Put her on that bed,” Law tells Chessy as he stands.

Chessy belatedly realizes someone must have brought another cot into the room for Lara and set it up next to Quinn, who is—Chessy finally notices—still healing Ace. She lifts Lara in her arms and gently moves her to the cot, afraid to move too quickly and worsen the wounds. As soon as she gets Lara settled on the bed, Law steps in and gets to work.

Chessy is surprised at the amount of careful tenderness with which Law handles her wounded captain. He is gentle as he hooks Lara up to the monitors. Gentle as he stitches together the gaping wound in her neck. Gentle as he repairs organs and muscle tissue.

After what feels like hours, Law collapses into the chair beside Lara’s bed.

“She’ll live,” he informs Chessy, dragging a palm down his face. “But god _damn_ was that a hard surgery. You’re lucky she has such high regeneration or I wouldn’t have been able to keep her alive. There wasn’t a whole lot to work with as it is.”

“Thank you,” Quinn says softly. “I would have worked on her myself, but Ace is still in critical condition. I can’t leave his side.”

Law waves her off.

“It’s fine,” he says. “Ace needs you more right now, and I could help Lara. She’s alive. She might never talk again, but she’ll live. She’ll be able to fight, and I’m pretty sure that’s all that really matters to her.”

“How _is_ Ace, by the way?” Chessy asks tentatively.

“Still in critical condition,” Quinn replies, “but his chances of survival are good and if I keep healing him at this rate for another hour, he’ll be out of immediate danger.”

“That’s good,” Chessy breathes a sigh of relief.

She knows how much the Whitebeard pirate means to Lara, and she would be devastated if anyone ever took Arya from her. She doesn’t know if she would even survive the death of Arya. It would just be too much for her to bear.

~

Lara could honestly say that she never expected to wake up again after her battle with Akainu. She had been prepared to die, taking him down with her. She isn’t sure how she’s alive, but she must be because death wouldn’t hurt so much. Her throat feels like it’s on fire. It feels like pieces of her are missing, like there are pieces that don’t belong, pieces in the wrong place. She feels like a patchwork doll.

“You’re finally awake.”

Lara’s eyes snap open, meeting the golden gaze of Trafalgar Law.

“Your navigator has been driving me up a wall,” he says. “I keep telling her that it’s normal for you to sleep this long, but she won’t even listen to me. Now maybe I’ll get some peace.”

Lara doesn’t think she can handle speaking aloud right then, but she has so many questions.

_:Paper:_ she signs to Law, hoping he knows more sign language than she does and can understand what she’s asking for. _:Pen:_

Law raises an eyebrow at her, but he apparently gets the message, because he hands her a sheet of paper and a pen.

_‘What happened?’_ Lara writes, once she sits up.

“Akainu nearly killed you,” Law replies. “It looks like he threw several magma spears through your chest and poured lava down your throat.”

Lara scowls.

_‘I thought I killed him.’_

“Apparently not,” Law tells her. “Your navigator tells me that when she got there you were unconscious and Akainu was holding you up by the neck. She was able to get you away, but she wasn’t able to kill him, so he’s probably alive and well.”

Lara feels a twinge of annoyance at that. First she tells Chessy to go home in order to keep her alive and she doesn’t even listen to a direct order, and then she fails to kill Akainu to get revenge for Ace.

_Ace…_

What if… Ace survived? Lara knows it’s unlikely, but Quinn was there with all her godlike power. If anyone could bring Ace back from the brink of death, she could.

Lara takes a deep breath and then asks the most important question.

_‘Ace?’_

“He’s alive.”

Lara exhales in relief.

_‘Thank you.’_

“Thank Quinn,” Law says. “She’s the one who saved him.”

Lara rolls her eyes and writes, _‘But you saved me.’_

“Oh…” Law flushes, and Lara thinks it’s cute. “Well… you’re welcome. But I couldn’t exactly leave you. You were bleeding _all over_ my floor.”

Lara lets out a silent giggle, and immediately winces because _OW_.

“Careful,” Law warns her. “Your throat was badly damaged and it’s not quite healed yet. Do you want some water?”

_‘Yes, thank you.’_

Law turns away for a moment to pour Lara a glass of water. He holds the glass to her lips and helps her take a sip. The water burns her throat on the way down, but it does help to alleviate the pain somewhat. After she’s drained the glass, Law directs her to lay down again and makes sure she’s comfortable.

Lara knows he’s probably just playing the role of a doctor right now and it doesn’t really mean anything, but she can’t help the warm feeling she gets in the pit of her stomach at how kind he’s being.

“I’m giving you some more pain medication,” Law says as he adjusts the IV in her arm. “You’ll feel a little drowsy, and I want you to get some more rest. Your body is still recovering from your battle with Akainu.”

Lara gives him a thumbs up and smiles. The medication works quickly and Lara feels herself become lightheaded before she slips off into dreamland.

~

Law stares at the white haired pirate who has taken over his bed. Her long white hair has been chopped entirely off and now lays in a messy white halo around her head. The wound that Law spent an entire hour trying to stitch together is now little more than a nasty scar on the surface thanks to her high regeneration. Judging from how she winced earlier when laughing, it’s still not entirely healed on the inside.

Lara is a one of a kind pirate, Law thinks, and he’s surprised to say he’s actually quite fond of her. She’s easy to get along with, because she knows when to push to get Law to open up, but she also knows when to back off and leave him alone. She’s probably had lots of practice being friends with Ace.

Law turns and walks out of the room. If he’s going to get anything done, he can’t do it in a room with Lara nearby or he’ll get distracted again and just spend an hour watching her sleep like a fucking creep.

He thinks about taking refuge in the infirmary, but that’s where Luffy is, and Luffy has proven to distract him even worse than Lara and the boy isn’t even awake! He thinks of checking on Jimbei, who was injured trying to get Luffy back to Law’s ship, but that just sounds like too much work.

Law is about to trudge off in search of an empty room, when Bepo runs up to him shouting something about marines. Law doesn’t spare the bear a second glance before racing off to the deck to see what kind of trouble his crew has gotten into this time. What he finds is… not marines, fortunately, but… Boa Hancock. Law’s not sure how he feels about this.

“How is Luffy doing!!?” are the first words out of the empress’s mouth.

Law doesn’t reply other than to glare at her. He’s not pleased that she managed to find him, and even less so that she did it immediately after they resurfaced. If they’re able to track the submarine so easily, it makes things dangerous for Law and his crew.

“You did well to figure out we were surfacing here,” Bepo says, seemingly reading his captain’s mind. “We thought the marines were here, so we freaked out for a moment.”

“Salome was following you on the sea floor,” Hancock replies, gesturing towards her giant pet snake. “And don’t change the subject you dumb beast!!”

“Sorry…” Bepo says, and Law feels a flare of annoyance. He hates when people look down on his first mate.

“I’ve done all I can,” Law tells Hancock, instead of chastising her for belittling Bepo. “The effectiveness of the operation is tied to his condition. He’s taken an impossible amount of damage. I can’t guarantee he’ll survive.”

Of course, Luffy’s in stable condition now, but it was really touch and go there for a while. If he survives the night, Luffy’s chances of survival will improve exponentially. And that’s not even touching on the subject of Ace. With Quinn tending to him, it’s almost impossible for him to die, but as soon as Quinn takes a break, he slips back into critical condition and they panic all over again.

“Of course!!” comes a voice from the marine ship sailing beside them.

“That’s right!” comes a chorus of other voices. “Strawhat tried his hardest! We were able to escape prison thanks to him!!”

“Who are they?!” Shachi and Penguin shout.

Law smirks. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that these are probably the allies that Luffy freed while escaping Impel Down.

“Prisoners from Impel Down,” Hancock explains to Law’s crew. “It looks like they’re Luffy’s allies. The snuck onto the battleship.”

“And we’re heading to the place we’ve dreamed of for so many long years,” the freed prisoners chorus, “the kingdom of Kamabakka!! From Newkama land to the true home of Newkama’s!”

“The Strawhat boy was already injured so badly he couldn’t stand at Impel Down!” the Newkama leader, Iva says, hopping down onto Law’s ship. The deck is becoming crowded. Iva continues as though they can’t see the glare Law is directing their way. “It’s amazing he managed to do anything in that condition! And that was all so that he could rescue his brother, Ace!”

Law ignores the chorus of voices Iva’s words inspire.

“Speaking of, how is Ace?” Iva inquires.

“He’s being tended to by a very competent doctor,” Law says. “He’s not out of danger yet, but I’m confident in his chances of survival.”

“How tragic…” Hancock weeps, as though Ace is already dead. Law rolls his eyes. “If I could, I’d suffer in Luffy’s place… I feel so bad for you, Luffy…”

“By the way,” Iva cuts in, also seeming to ignore the pirate empress. “Are you Strawhat boy’s friend?”

“No,” Law answers bluntly. “I had no obligation to help him. But if you’re uncomfortable with my kindness, shall I make something up?”

“No, that’s fine,” Iva responds. “There are times when instinct moves your body.”

“Wait!!” Comes Jimbei’s voice. Looks like he’s awake then. “Haa… Haa… You’re Trafalgar Law, from North Blue, right? You have my thanks for saving my life!”

“If you don’t sleep, you’ll die,” Iva advises him, and Law feels inclined to agree with him. Jimbei looks like hell.

“My heart won’t calm down… It’s futile,” Jimbei says. “What I’ve lost this time… was too important to me!”

Law has to wonder if Jimbei possibly thinks Ace is dead, as Lara undoubtedly thought when she first woke up.

“And compared to that, Luffy’s loss was even deeper…” Jimbei continues. “When he lost consciousness, it must have been a defense mechanism… to prevent him from losing his life… I’m more worried… about what happens when he awakes.”

Jimbei definitely thinks Ace is dead. Law wonders who will be the one to explain that Ace isn’t dead. Certainly not him.

Suddenly Quinn slams the door to the submarine open.

“Ace isn’t dead!” she proclaims.

Law raises an eyebrow.

“You managed to stabilize him then?” he asks.

Quinn turns her beam on him and replies, “Yes. He’s completely stable now, even without me there watching him, he’s in no danger of dying anytime soon.”

“Really??” Jimbei asks, looking as though all hope in the world has been restored.

“Yep!” Quinn chirps

Jimbei sags in relief.

“You, beast!!” Hancock snaps at Bepo, “Do you have a denden mushi?”

“Ah! Yes, we do… sorry,” says Bepo.

“If we call the Kuja Pirate ship, we can pull this submarine across the calm belt!” Hancock says. “If the Government learns that Luffy and Ace are alive, they’ll definitely come after them. We’ll hide them on the Isle of women. And if I’m still one of the Shichibukai, they can safely recover there.”

“Well then,” says Iva, “my duty to protect Strawhat boy ends here! Hiihaa!! Can you take care of things from here, Jimbei?”

“Yes,” Jimbei replies. “I still can’t swim at my best, so at the very least, I’ll watch over Luffy and Ace until they recover. Though I don’t know how much help I’ll be…”

Law tries to ignore the shouts of farewell as the ship of Luffy’s allies sail off. He doesn’t fully succeed.

“Give him our regards when he wakes up!!!”

Law gives up dignity and plugs his ears.

~

The next time Lara wakes up, it’s to the sound of Luffy screaming for Ace and, by the sound of it, punching holes in walls. Without thinking of her own safety, Lara throws herself out of bed, ripping out the IV as she goes. She barely spares a moment to note that she’s wearing a pair of shorts and is wrapped head to toe in bandages before racing after her best friend’s brother, who it sounds like has left the ship.

She races onto the deck to see that they are docked on an island, and the members of Law’s crew are chasing something into the forest. Law and Jimbei are sitting on rocks beside the submarine.

“What’ll happen if we just leave him like that…?” Jimbei asks Law.

“Well, that’s simple…” Law says. “If he reopens his wounds, he really might die this time.”

“Lara doesn’t stick around to hear more. She chases Luffy into the jungle, racing past Law’s crew on fleet feet and following the trail of carnage.

Luffy can’t die. He probably doesn’t realize that Ace is alive, given that he passed out immediately after Ace and didn’t see Quinn healing him. Hell, Lara saw Quinn healing him and didn’t know he’d survived until she woke up and Law told her. So Luffy can’t die. Not until Lara can get to him and calm him down enough to tell him that Ace is alive.

She finds Luffy screaming and punching the surrounding wildlife. Seemingly seeing Ace’s death over and over in his mind.

“GO AWAY!” Luffy screams, punching a tree. “GO AWAY!!”

“Luffy!” Lara shouts and her throat screams in pain, but he either doesn’t hear her or just completely ignores her.

“STOP IT!!! GO AWAY! GO AWAY!!!”

Lara doesn’t dare go near him. She’s still to wounded herself to risk getting hit by Luffy in his mindless panic, and she can’t speak for fear of damaging her throat further. Jimbei steps up next to her. They share a solemn look before Jimbei steps past her to try speaking to Luffy.

“The war is over…” Jimbei tries. “Ace is—“

“DON’T SAY IT!!” Luffy roars, cutting him off. “Don’t say anything…! Haa… I’ve pinched my cheek enough to tear it apart… Haa… If this were a dream, I would have woken up already. I’m not dreaming, am I…? Ace… is dead, isn’t he!!?”

“Luffy no!” Jimbei tries, but the boy doesn’t seem to hear him, so lost as he is in his grief. Lara can’t speak, and nothing Jimbei says can bring him back to reality. Eventually, they step back and let him mourn, silently agreeing to tell him once he calms down again.

“DAMN!” Luffy sobs. “I’m _weak_! Why can’t I be stronger?! I’m weak!! I’m WEAK!! …Ace… I’m sorry that I’m weak. If I were stronger… I could have saved you… It’s all my fault… Ace…”

Then…

“Luffy…?”

Luffy suddenly goes still and silent, head whipping around to look at the speaker who has stepped into the clearing.

Lara too turns around slowly, almost afraid to look. Sure enough, its Ace standing there, leaning against a tree and bleeding through his bandages. Quinn is hovering behind him worriedly, hands hovering over his skin and glowing green, attempting to heal the damage he’s done to himself simply by walking.

“Sorry…” Ace says. “For worrying you.”

“…Ace…?” Luffy says, like he’s afraid to break the spell. “Is it… really you? No… It can’t be possible! It’s a dream!”

Ace just stands there and looks at Luffy, seeming to drink in the sight of him.

“Ace… Are you… real?”

“Luffy… Don’t worry… I’m alive, Luffy.”

Luffy starts bawling. At the same moment, both brothers lurch towards each other and catch each other in a clinging hug, leaning into each other and clinging hard, as though the other will disappear if they don’t hold tight enough.

Lara suddenly feels as though she’s intruding on something, but she can’t tear her eyes away.

“I can’t believe it!” Luffy sobs. “You aren’t dead! I’m so happy, Ace!!”

“Thank you, Luffy,” Ace says, just loud enough to hear. “For saving me. You never gave me up. I’m really glad to be alive.”

“Ace!” Luffy sobs, pressing his face into his brother’s neck and crying his name over and over again.

Lara turns away.

“Luffy,” she hears Ace say, “do you remember? I promised that I will never die. So I will never leave you alone… Hey… you are strong now. Stop crying like a child.”

“But… but… but Ace!” Luffy cries, “I thought I would never see you again! It was very dangerous, and—“

“Right!” Ace interrupts. “What you did was very dangerous and stupid! Luffy! You can’t risk your life so easily!”

“But… but Ace… I…”

Ace sighs.

“It’s okay. Stop crying. Thank you Luffy. I’m okay. I’m here right now. And I’m not leaving you again.”

Luffy sniffles.

“Luffy… I’m very proud of you. My little, idiotic brother. We will stay together forever. I’ll be there for you… Promise.”

Lara wipes a tear from her eye and looks a Quinn and Jimbei.

Quinn smiles sadly at her. Together with Jimbei, they retreat towards the beach to wait for the brothers to finish comforting each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ARE YOU CRYING YET?! I sobbed while writing this chapter. Literally. SOBBED. So you REALLY need to watch the video that inspired that scene between Ace and Luffy at the end. Its so beautiful and sad and happy and the music makes me cry and... just watch it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPGWzSjvLSY
> 
> Remember, comments are the lifeblood of writers. So please, please, PLEASE COMMENT!!! Even if its just a "I love your story!" I LOVE getting comments! They keep me going!
> 
> Thanks for reading! I'll start working on the next chapter and hopefully have it done soon! Till next time!


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